“I was so nervous in the wings,” Lorde admitted earlier today on Twitter. “Then I whispered to myself ‘just sing it to David,’ and nothing else mattered.”

This particular song called for Lorde to adapt her characteristically deep singing voice to Bowie's higher register, so the nerves could have been due to more than just idol worship. Even outside her comfort zone, she delivered. Bowie praised Lorde’s music while he was alive (and he certainly didn’t praise everyone’s), so the 19-year old artist had a bona fide, real life connection to pull from.